WPTV NewsChannel 5 reports on the eighth day in the Tyler Hadley sentencing hearing, in which closing arguments were made and family members, including Tyler Hadley himself, spoke to the judge.

WPTV NewsChannel 5

Images from day 8, closing arguments of the Tyler Hadley sentencing hearing at the St. Lucie County Courthouse on Wednesday March 18, 2014.

Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE — For the first time since his arrest on murder charges, Tyler Hadley on Wednesday openly apologized to his family for killing his parents during a brutal attack July 16, 2011.

Shortly before his sentencing hearing ended Wednesday, Hadley, wearing a dress shirt, tie and black slacks, turned and looked at his family members seated in court and said his remarks were meant for all of them.

He spoke for 86 seconds.

“I’d like to direct this to my entire family, everyone, all of you,” Hadley said as he briefly turned toward his family, including an uncle, aunts, cousins and his brother, Ryan Hadley, 26, of North Carolina.

“I know it’s hard to understand, and you can’t begin to explain what happened. I can’t apologize or make amends for the horrible acts I have done, that I committed,” he told the court, referring to the beating deaths of his father, Blake, 54, and mother, Mary Jo, 47. “Not a single day goes by that I don’t think about my parents, or my whole family, and how they’ve been affected by this.

“I don’t expect forgiveness and I know that they will forgive me ... but I realize I took away a son, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother and two friends,” he added. “And I just want everyone to know I am truly sorry for the acts I committed. I love and care deeply for all of them. That’s all I have.”

With those words, Hadley, who has been well-behaved, polite and largely silent throughout his sentencing hearing, returned to his seat, concluding the court proceeding that began March 10.

St. Lucie Circuit Judge Robert Makemson said he needed time to prepare his decision, and ordered the parties to return at 11 a.m. Thursday to learn what sentence Hadley will receive. He gave no indication what sentence he might impose.

Makemson has already ruled Hadley faces one of three sentences: life with or without a shot at parole, or he could order him to serve a specific term of years in prison.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl, who called Hadley a “coldblooded killer” who selfishly slaughtered his parents with a claw hammer, urged the court to send the 20-year-old to prison forever.

“This is not a youthful act of indiscretion,” Bakkedahl said. “This is a coldblooded, planned murder.”

He said society demands that Hadley be given the highest punishment possible.

“In the hierarchy of crimes we see, judge, murder is it. It’s the worst, it’s final, it can never be undone,” he said. “And not only has he taken two human lives, but he’s ruined a family. He’s utterly destroyed a family; he’s severed a family. And left in the midst of all of that destruction stands Ryan (Hadley), his brother, who loves him and still wants a relationship with him. But still also knows, he must be punished.”

Hadley’s lead lawyer, Public Defender Diamond Litty, suggested a less harsh punishment.

Litty reminded the court Hadley has a history of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioral issues that professionals began treating with various medications beginning at age 10.

“At the time of this crime, he was either mentally ill and being properly treated or mentally ill and improperly treated. We are never going to know,” Litty said. “But what we do know is it was part of this horrible combination that made Tyler murder the two people who loved him the most.”

Litty recommended Hadley be sentenced to two 30-year prison terms to run concurrently, with a condition that his case be reviewed by a judge after 20 years.

Makemson also heard from Hadley’s maternal aunt and a cousin, who pleaded for mercy and asked for a punishment less than life in prison.

“Although we would like to have Tyler with us, we realize that is not possible at this time,” Hadley’s cousin Kelly Reynolds, of Port St. Lucie, read aloud from a letter with their aunt, Laurie Wycoff, by her side. “But we pray that sometime in the future he will have the opportunity to rehabilitate and have a life on the outside.”

Blake Hadley’s brother, Mike Hadley, told the court the horrid events took away his best friend and “will leave us all with lifelong traumatic after effects.”

“I now with a heavy heart pray the court passes judgment on Tyler to keep our family safe and that he remain in a controlled environment for life without any chance of parole,” he said. “A place where all of his needs are provided for, and our family can put back some of the pieces of our shattered lives.”

After court, Mike Hadley said the family is anxious to hear Makemson’s decision Thursday.

“We’re just pleased that we’ve got this all over with,” he said.

He called the eight-day hearing gut-wrenching, and “the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do in our lives.”